Business & Money Trail:

DATA PROTECTION IS TOP-OF-MIND FOR IT INVESTMENTS

DataCore Software Corporation, a leading provider of storage virtualization and networking software, offers technology-driven recommendations designed to help companies implement cost-effective, scalable and manageable disaster recovery and data protection solutions leveraging virtualization technology and Internet-based mirroring.

"Many companies take the position that 'it can't happen to me' and then discover that 'it' -- a total loss of data -- can happen and costs far more than the preventive measures would have," said Anne Skamarock, senior analyst with Enterprise Management Associates. "Or worse, they consciously gamble with the company's data because they feel that full data protection is too costly to implement. With the affordable technologies available today for ensuring the stability and security of stored data, there's no reason for companies to risk that kind of loss."

Network-based virtualization and data replication over standard Internet connections are two recent innovations that combine to offer cost-effective data protection strategies. Virtualization enables companies to mix-and-match high-, mid- and low-end storage, which significantly reduces hardware investment costs and increases the return on existing hardware investments. Combining that flexible storage capability with Internet-based data mirroring over standard TCP/IP WANs offers a relatively inexpensive disaster recovery solution with unlimited scalability.

Companies seeking robust solutions that will ensure data protection, yet fit within today's restricted IT budgets, should:

• Move data mirroring out of proprietary storage arrays into a network-based layer of common services between the storage resources and storage consumers. This enables the use of less costly storage for secondary functions, such as mirrors and snapshots used for backup and disaster recovery
• Leverage commodity operating systems and hardware platforms, including current internal networking infrastructure, to eliminate the need for costly external devices to manage conversion among storage protocols, e.g. Fibre Channel, SCSI, etc. and LAN/WAN protocols
• Use asynchronous mirroring techniques to eliminate high site-to-site bandwidth costs

"Our entire business is data. If we can't access it, we can't operate - period," said Bill Manning, director for technical services, Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund. "Complete redundancy of our data allows us to protect everything in the pool -- that is really important. DataCore's SANsymphony was the only solution that could deliver a simple and scalable approach for managing this data, without locking us into any single hardware vendor or storage technology."

Organizations around the world, including Virginia-based Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund, are rolling out DataCore's SANsymphony virtualization software with Asynchronous Internet Mirroring (AIM) to improve disaster recovery capabilities by replicating information to off-site locations over existing Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure without the excessive costs associated with conventional solutions. The software's alternate pathing and synchronous mirroring capabilities provide additional alternatives for instant failover of mission-critical systems in mixed operating system environments, while delivering improved manageability features that directly reduce storage related costs.

"In light of recent events, companies are even more sensitive to the need for proactive steps to ensure continuous, reliable replication and redundancy for stored data," said Ken Horner, vice president of marketing for DataCore. "In today's highly fragmented and heterogeneous storage environments, back-up and restore requirements introduce a level of complexity that makes it nearly impossible for many companies to fundamentally duplicate their storage environments, risking significant loss in a crisis. The good news is that there are technologies that make it possible to create and roll out robust and cost-effective replication solutions."

About the Company

DataCore Software Corporation is a leader in storage virtualization and networking software. The company's award-winning SANsymphony storage control software dramatically improves ROI and storage utilization by converting 'islands' of disparate storage into networked storage pools, enabling the easy allocation of storage capacity. DataCore distributes its software products through the SANvantage Partner Program including its authorized and technical channel and major OEM partners worldwide. Founded in 1998 by some of the industry's most respected storage technologists, DataCore is privately-held with headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and other US offices located in NY, CA, IL, and NC with international sales and service operations located in London, Paris, Munich, Tokyo, and Sydney. The company is a voting member of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and an active member of the Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA). For more information, call 877-780-5111 or visit www.datacore.com.

Contact DataCore Software Corporation, Jan Jahosky, 407-331-4699, jan.jahosky@datacore.com.